Marwari Havelies

Road trips are always close to my heart. They bring back beautiful memories. Recently we had a chance to go on a road trip to Rajasthan, India. Three things are closely associated to this state - Thar Desert, Pink City and Marwaris!

Being born and bought up in Madurai, we have seen Marwari community flourish in wholesale businesses, which include cosmetic, fashion jewelry, gift items, electrical items and a lot more. Generally, they live in large joint families, wear colorful clothes, often include sweets in their meals and make lovely pan/bedas. Apart from this I had no idea about their lifestyle back in their native land.

When we started off from Sikar to Bikaner, we heard that there are beautiful havelies on the way. Haveli, means town houses or mansions. After talking to a couple of locals on the way, we headed to Fatehpur in search of Havelis and went few kilometers into the village. At one point we saw beautiful dilapidated walls, wells and some old buildings. We were guided to drive further down a narrow lane to see a Haveli. As soon as we entered the lane, this is what we saw:

Contrast Havelis

I fell in love with these contrast colored Havelis. As you can see, murals of the Haveli on the left is predominantly painted with white, black and green where as the Haveli on the right has beautiful murals in bright indigo, red in an yellow back ground. Attracted by the iconic elephant drawing, I walked towards the white haveli.

Linking this picture to Our World

The whole area was deserted, and we started soaking in the beautiful paintings despite the scorching sun. The lovely paintings display the lifestyle of the rich trading community.

Beautiful archways, intricate windows and doors

We were about to leave that lane wondering what could be inside this palatial mansion. Just in time, we saw a lady coming out of a modern house opposite to this haveli. This time around the language barrier was not there as our friend who was travelling with us could speak good Hindi! We learned from this lady that there was nothing inside this haveli but she told us that there were people living next door, which is also an ill-maintained old haveli. She suggested that we could request the people living there to get a glimpse of live haveli. 

Living Haveli

This rambling beauty had traces of murals that stands as a testimony to it's glorious past. Motorcycles outside gave us hope that people living there are modernized and would be welcoming travellers. As I touched the small door it gave way showing something from a different era.

We asked this lady if we could come in and take pictures, she nodded her head and rushed inside. I took that 'nod' as yes and shot the picture above. Within seconds she came with another elderly lady who shooed us away and shut that door! What did I expect? A royal welcome? Of course not! It is their home and they didn't want curious travelers to invade their privacy. 

The formidable doors stared at us and I felt that it was fiercely guarding it's secrets! With resentment we started walking towards that yellow based indigo haveli, in the hope of getting better luck. Sure we were rewarded, yes we had reached the right place to learn the story of havelis. More details and colorful murals in the next post :)

Taj Mahal - Elusive Illusions

Taj Mahal, synonymous with the 7 wonders of the World and symbol of love, you can never appreciate it's charm and beauty until you see it in person. Seeing Taj Mahal in a picture or a video doesn't give you a clue of what it is in reality. You need to walk in through the Royal Gates to experience and appreciate the sheer beauty. 

We hired a professional guide and a photographer too (so that we can get those classic couple shots, without attempting crude selfies). I carried my DSLR to capture my own angles. In this post I have attempted to show how I saw the Taj through my lens. 

From afar, through the arch of the Royal entrance, white marble arches of the Taj looked so close. Take a look at the collage to get an idea of what am trying to say.

Royal Entrance on the left and first glimpse of Taj on the right

But as we kept walking towards the Royal archway, we felt that the Taj Mahal was slowly receding. It felt as if the Taj is taunting us to come closer to see her. The minute we entered the arch, the elusive marble wonder came into full view.  

It was nothing like what I have seen in photos or in the movies. I was spellbound and I think I was holding my breath in awe and realized that I was blocking someones way, until my husband tapped on my shoulder and asked me to move along. 

Multi tasking mind some how had stopped functioning and only my visual sense was working, in fact overtime! For the first few minutes, I was just gaping, without even taking any pictures. When I tried to focus my lens, something felt odd. Now, I noticed that the minarets were shrouded with safety nets and construction ladder. Restoration work was going on. 

Our world

While walking towards the Taj, I was wondering how nice it would be to view Taj without any scaffolding around the minarets. The guide was quite informative and with great passion he told how the Taj looks at different times of the day and during different seasons of the year. He recommended that we should come during Jan to Mar, that too plan for the exclusive Full Moon night view. 

Then the guide jovially said that, now Taj is getting a face scrub with a pack of multini mitti. It is true that the Taj is severely affected by acid rains and pollution, and the white marble is tainted. So, the archaeological department of India takes restoration initiatives once in few years by applying mud pack made of multani mitti, which is a popular Indian face pack!  

After wrapping our footwear with covers, we finally entered the Taj. The more you look at it the more you wonder how they would have made it without any modern machinery. The exquisite floral carvings and engraved marble inlaid with semi precious stones is a royal treat!

Jali Work and Marble Inlay with semi-precious stones

Marble Engravings

Marble Inlay work

The Taj is made of translucent white marbles from Makrana, Rajasthan. Seeing is believing. So, our guide promised us to show how it glows when light penetrates. We entered the mausoleum. It was dark. Our guide suggested that all we had to do was tip the volunteer, who was standing guard next to the restricted area, with just Rs 10. We agreed. The volunteer had a pen torch and he lit it against the marble wall. To our excitement, the wall was glowing like radium! He slowly moved the torch light around the walls and pillars, everywhere it was glowing! 

Photography is not allowed inside the mausoleum, but no one is there to stop one from taking pictures. Encouraged by people clicking around, I too dared to capture the inner beauty.

Jali Work made of single piece of marble!

On the way out, our guide showed us the beauty of honeycomb structured wall. Take a look at the collage.

Honeycomb structure

The top part of the collage shows the general view and when you peep in through a honeycomb, it acts like a wide angle lens and you get a beautiful view!

After stepping out of the mausoleum, our guide asked me to count the sides of a pillar. I counted it obediently and said 6. He denied, took me closer, oops it was a 3 sided pillar. I was caught off guard by yet another optical illusion.  

Optical Illusion

I guess I will be visiting the Taj several times in the next few years as we have relocated to this part of the world and pretty sure that I will discover something new every time.     

Somana Kunitha - A Folk Dance Celebrating Spirits and Village Deity

Every time we drive past DakshinaChitra on ECR, Chennai, we used to think, one day we should go there. Over a long weekend, finally we made it and the experience was very rewarding. 

Nowadays, DakshinaChitra is also becoming a prime location for wedding photo shoots! However, this is a heritage museum. Those who wish to get a glimpse on art and architecture of southern states of India, DakshinaChitra, is a must go destination. Trust me you won't be disappointed. Check their events calendar when you plan for a visit. Usually over the weekends and public holidays they have live performances. 

The museum is housed in 10 acres on ECR, facing the Bay of Bengal. We knew there was going to be a performance at 4 pm on that day. We were quite early, so we were exploring traditional houses of Kerala, which was near the performance ground. By 3.45 pm, we were exhausted and wanted to get a drink, so we were heading out of the ground and...suddenly we heard vibrant music from behind. We turned around to look. 

We were mesmerized by the huge colorful masks that were fast approaching towards the ground. That's it! We forgot about heat, thirst and just rushed back and found a perfect spot to watch the performance. At that time we didn't know about the name of that folk art. 

The musicians filed towards the stage area. The artists who carried the mask on their head slipped it on their faces with deft moves. The one who looked like the leader was carrying a whip, he came center stage and announced that they were going to perform Somana Kunitha, a folk dance native of Tumkur, Karnataka. 

As the lead was narrating in Kannada, I had to do the guess work and all i could get was that the performance had something to do with Godess Chamundesweri. Let me share the visual treat:

After the performance, we approached the group and thanked them for the wonderful performance and had a chat with the lead. We learned that the dance was to celebrate victory of good spirit over the bad one. Soma means mask and Kunitha is dance. The red mask represented good and the yellow the bad. The lead was actually the priest who invokes Godess Chamundesweri to support the good spirit! Had a chance for these close ups too. 

 

Add caption

 

Wish DakshinaChitra can arrange for translators for all the performances, so that non-native speakers of that particular folk art too can get a better understanding!

Belief - Beyond Comprehension

Every visit to our farm house brings in new experience, as it is set in a remote village. The native villagers mostly live along with nature, may be that could be due to non-urbanization! Look at what I was intrigued at this time!

These are plantain stems. First I thought these people were slicing the stem and drying it up to make crisps, but I have never heard of such a thing. Well, we normally add these in daal or finely chop and toss it up and use as a side dish along with rice based meal. Now, curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to know what exactly it was, so started chatting up with the lady who was deftly making these stuff. She was equally excited to explain what she was doing!

They were oil lamp wicks, which is used in Hindu special prayers and it was called as வாழைத்தண்டு திரி (Vazhaithandu Thiri)! Meticulously she showed me how to make it...here we go

Slice the stem > pull out the fiber > wrap it > dry it. Roll the dried ones and make a wick, whenever you want to light the lamp. It is believed that lighting lamp with this wick will be relinquish any form of curse! 

Colorful Gooseberries n Folklore

Gooseberry! admit it, mouth waters at the very thought of it and the second you take a bite, you have a pursed lips and screwed up eyes, because of the inherent sour taste! 

When we came across these colorful berries at the road side in Yelagiri (a laid back high-land in Tamil Nadu in India), we just stopped by to try it out! To our pleasant surprise, we were told that these are local gooseberries (நெல்லிக்காய்)! Until then, I h'v thought that the color of these berries are shades of pale green. 

They used to sell gooseberries in front of school. All we had to do was shell out a small change and get a hand full of small sized அரெ-நெல்லிக்காய் or a big நெல்லிக்காய், of course with all the works including salt, chilli powder and blackish coarse mustard. 

Our World

If you grew up learning Tamil, am pretty sure you have heard Ovvaiyar (ஒவ்வையார்) and gooseberry (நெல்லிக்கனி/நெல்லிக்காய்) at least once! The folklore says that king Adiyamaan (அதியமான் ) once got a gooseberry which is supposed to increase his life span. The king after deep contemplation gave this to ஒவ்வையார் believing that increasing her lifespan means good to the society at large as she is not only a great poetess, but strives to bring peace among neighbouring rulers too! Such a noble hearted ruler!

Look at the ripe ones! They were not sweet, but certainly had a crispy tangy taste with a punch.
ஒரு வேளை ஒவ்வையார் உண்ட நெல்லிக்கனி இப்படி இருந்திருக்குமோ?

Kili Josiyam & Yeli Josiyam - Pick Your Tarot With Parrot or Guinea Pig

கிளி ஜோசியம் (Parrot Tarot card reading) never fails to fascinate. I've done it once long ago! Now, this kinda fortune telling has become a part of entertainment, be it family get together, birthday party or just in front of restaurants. But, when we went to the Southern Terrace @ ECR, Chennai, for the first time I came across எலி ஜோசியம் (Mountain Rat Tarot card reading)!

Mooshika (mouse) is the vahana (vehicle) of Lord Ganesha, so the fortune teller justifies that the mouse can righteously pick up tarot for men! The rodent came out of the cage, did a couple of peppy circles and started to pick the card one by one from the stack using it's mouth and drop them down. After few cards, the rodent held a card and looked at the owner. Now, the drama started, the owner questioned the rodent in a lilting way if he is sure about the card, and if yes, asked the rodent to go in front of the deity and pray for good fortune. Surprisingly, our எலி (pronounced as eli) went in front of the deity, bowed it's head and then passed on the card to the fortune teller!

Our World

Our friend, the eli, was rewarded with few grains and sent back to the cage. The fortune teller opened the card, showed us the deity, and it was Lord Narayana with Lakshmi, which is auspicious and indicates wealth and general well being. But, the fortune teller opens his guide and rattled off his interpretation. His predictions on the past was generally true, am still wondering how this could be, because he gave some specific indicators which, he wouldn't have a chance to know by just seeing us! Well, it could be the trick of his trade. 

Now, it was my turn, so he invited the parrot to pick up the card. Again, கிளி is Goddess Meenakshi's favorite, so ideal to pick up tarot for ladies. Same process was repeated, like eli's.

But, once the parrot decided on the card, instead of going in front of the deity, it just hopped towards the caged eli, and was asking for his consent!

The owner prompted the parrot to whistle, utter few words, and the parrot too promptly whistled & spoke. What a training! I was also rewarded with good reading.

When it was time for us to move, we asked how much did we owe him, for which he said that we could tip him whatever we feel like, again that was quite unusual. Later when we spoke to the restaurant guys, we learned that this fortune teller gets paid by them, no wonder he accepts what ever we pay :) Overall, feel good factor was pretty high, unlike my earlier experience.

Wandering Alone @ Gole Bazar

Again, I got a chance to wander alone! Well, this time it was in Kharagpur, West Bengal, which boasts longest railway platform in the world! On the first day, I was wandering within walkable distance from where we stayed. Later I was in for luck, and made friends with an inspiring personality. She suggested that I use rickshaws for exploring Gole Bazar, a place worth visiting to get a local feel of market and savour mishti (sweets in Bengali), from local's favorite shop.
Predominantly, the locals either spoke in Bengali or Hindi. English was hardly understood. Somehow, I managed to communicate with the rickshaw-wala (rickshaw-driver!) in my broken Hindi. The 5 KM ride cost me only Rs 60 (around RM 3.5!!!).

Shadow Shot Sunday

Though the ride was bumpy and slow, the open top helped me to capture life on the way to Gole Bazar.

Rickshaw wala was quite talkative. As we approached the bridge over Kharagpur railway station, he told that his son was working at the Eastern Railways garage. He added that 2 trains (with 20+ carriages each) can be parked back to back on this platform! Well, it could just be local lore, as I could not verify this information online.

Longest platform in the world - 1075m

My expectation of the bazar, was that of a crowded vibrant market, but When I reached Gole bazar around 11 AM, weather was a bit chilly and the bazar seemed to be lazy like this...

Gole Bazar

A push-cart with small earthen cups attracted me. He was just opening his business and I wanted to take a picture, but was not sure how the vendor would react, if I don't buy anything. So, I asked him for what purpose that cup was used and if I could just buy 1 cup. He replied that he sells tea in that cup for Rs 4. Surprised at that cheap rate, I asked again, if he was telling the rate of the cup or tea. He gave a weird look and told that the tea and cup together was Rs 4!!!

Matka Chai - Teh Tarik - Rs 4 or just around 20 sen per cup!

Then I understood that this cup was meant for one time use ONLY! What an environmental friendly disposable cup! I dared to take a sip, and fell in love with the tea as the flavor and fragrance was enhanced because of the earthenware:)

By now, slowly the market was coming alive and I bought a couple of duppattas.

When it was about time to leave, I stopped by the mithai (sweet) shop, which my friend recommended to.

Jamuns, rosgullas, sweet yogurt...

Later, I decided to take a 'share auto', as there was a lonely stretch on the way back. There I met two Midnapur university students (fellow passengers). I learned that one of them were married and continuing education! Well, marrying at young age is still prevalent, but at least education seems to have gained importance.

Altogether it was a lively experience.

Navaratri/Dussehra - Victory over Ignorance!

Navaratri literally means nine nights in Sanskrit and this festival is celebrated at nights in the Hindu temples and homes. It is a colorful festival, celebrated throughout India in different names like Navaratri, Dussehra or Durga Pooja. The basis of this festival is to celebrate the Destruction of evil power, Appreciation of Spiritual & Material Riches and Enlightenment. These three factors are represented by Goddesses Durga (Parvathi), Lakshmi and Saraswathi respectively. During Navaratri, 3 days are dedicated for each Goddess successively.

In temples, deities are adorned in various forms of the Goddesses in the evenings and special prayers are conducted at nights. On the 9th day, in most of the temples all 3 forms of the goddesses are presented!

This is from my family's trust temple. For SOOC Sunday

In the above shot, Saraswathi the goddess of education (enlightenment) is on the 1st left and she holds Veena (a classical musical instrument). Lakshmi the goddess of wealth is in the center and the next is Durga or Parvathi the goddess of power. At homes, children celebrate by arranging dolls to depict various religious and day to day life activities and it is called as Kolu. So, in this season, handicraft shops and shops beside the temples sell colorful dolls.

Kolu dolls at Pudhu Mandabam in Meenakshi Amman temple, Madurai, India

Ninth day of celebration is also called as Saraswathi Pooja. As children, we were always looking forward to this day, mainly because our school books would be kept in prayers and left overnight in front of the deity, which meant we didn't have to TOUCH the books^^.

After 9 days of celebration, 10th day is called as Vijayadasami. There is a belief that Lord Rama killed Ravana (demonic ruler of Srilanka) on that day, hence it is considered as triumph over evilness. This epic war is enacted in most of the Vaishnava temples.

Rama from (Sourashtra) South Krishnan Temple, Madurai. For Skywatch.

This shot shows Lord Rama with bow and arrow!

Spiritually, Vijayadasami means victory over ignorance and gain enlightenment. Hence, goddess Saraswathi is given importance on this day and in South India, this is the most auspicious day to start a child's education. Most of the schools take new admissions for Reception classes!

Vinayaka @ Meenakshi Amman Temple Madurai

Prime God of Hindus, Vinayaka or Ganapathy is worshiped before the beginning of anything like a wedding or business. And today is His birthday. He has an elephant's face and stout with a pot belly. Here are some of His avtars @ Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple.

Vibuthy Vinayakar

He sits near the entrance of South Tower, and people shower him with vibuthy or holy ash and pray.  

Mukkuruni Vinayakar

He is the largest Ganapathy within this temple and today, special pooja or prayers will be performed. Extra large modhagam (rice based cake) will be offered to Him and later distributed to the public.

Narthana Vinayakar

Narthana means dancing, this dancing Vinayaka is near the Mottai gopuram and people pray to Him on special occasions like Sasthiaptha poorthi (60th birthday).

Couples who are not blessed with a child are advised to do milk absheka (bathing the deity with milk) for this Narthana Vinayaka. Though many beliefs sound superstitious, at times, out of desperation and yearning I tend to believe in age old customs. Belief is everything, I too have done milk abeshikam here, as I had my kid only after a long time.

Ghost Festival

You can see this giant sized incense sticks all over Malaysia, during the month of Chinese Ghost Festival.

However, until now I haven't bothered to stop by and find out more. This time, I made it a point to drop in one of these tents and chat up. Heat waves hit me the moment I opened my car door. The aroma was so strong that I sneezed.

A volunteer was kind enough to patiently explain and answer my questions:) This festival falls in the seventh month of the lunar calendar (usually around July/August) and is celebrated thorough out the month. Each community/family selects a convenient day to celebrate it.

Yellow - dead people list, Red - live persons seeking prosperity and peace!

On that day, the monks visit this type of prayer tents and pray for the dead souls in general and specifically for those listed on the yellow posters! They also pray for the peace and prosperity of the living, and special prayers for those listed in red posters!!

Colorful idols are placed at the alter. The center one was very large.

God of Heaven

"This is the Heaven God. He guides the dead people, so we pray to him" said the volunteer.

Demigods

"These small Gods are like angles and they help us during natural disasters like earthquake...and see these are the gold and silver mountains that will be there in the Heaven"...

Golden Mountain

It was very fascinating to learn about their beliefs. And the most surprising article was this cute model.

Toilet for the DEAD!!!

The loo model was placed outside the tent and was meant for the visiting souls! It seems that the right toilet is for men and it was marked by 'red tail' like character that represents spade, which is used in farming. Whereas, the left was for ladies, which is marked by red dot, that depicts hand!

One of the Buddhist Goddess Kuan Yin - capable of taking 32 'avatars' to help the believers!

The offerings kept in front of Kuan Yin would be distributed at the end of the prayers, after midnight 12 am! I was proudly shown that the candy, dates and cereals towers were hand crafted by community members!

Vegetarian food

As it was a Buddhist community, all the offerings were vegetarian food, which had mock chicken and other soya/flour based meat. Along with a gift hamper, this food too would be distributed to the donors.

Finally, I was told that all the paper idols and articles would be burnt at the end of the prayer at midnight. Though I strongly respect the tradition and culture, I am concerned about the environmental pollution that occurs due to these burning. And I have a doubt if this could be the cause of the haze at nights during this season!